Woman on submarines reflect naval human resources recognition that its difficult to get enough people to crew a submarine, so either gender will do. Woman on subs also reflects wider societal moves toward affirmative action, orders on high and concern for naval public relations.
Men are more used to women in previously male-only professions. More woman on subs might actually attract more men to the submarine service (?).
On subs the lack of Social Media connectivity/access (no social PC laptops, internet or mobile phones) is a recruitment turnoff. UK Royal Navy research has found this. Therefore I theorise this Social Media limitation can be partly offset by mixed-gender crews - not just blokes.
Further to the long running series on the advantages and disadvantages of woman part crewing submarines:
Some articles are positive: Jul 27, 2015, Aug 11, 2015, Feb 16, 2021 and Feb 19, 2021
Some are scandalous: Oct 3, 2017, Oct 9, 2017 and Feb 9, 2021.
With the help of readers I've located woman on submarines in additional navies - those of France, the UK, Spain and Argentina (a tragic episode).
French Navy
There was a Defense Ministerial decision in 2014 that women were to be cleared to go on French SSBNs - perhaps from 2017.
An official source is that there were four woman (with the roles “doctor”, engineering “head of the reactor service, assistant to the head of the diving safety service, assistant to the head of the underwater service”) on Triomphant-class French SSBN Le Terrible implicitly ending its patrol in July 2018.
UK Royal Navy
A 2014 French source advises: "The British Royal Navy announced in 2011 it would allow females to work on its Vanguard class [SSBNs]. Like France, just three spots are currently available and non-commissioned officers will only be allowed starting" in 2015.
There were at least two female officers on HMS Vigilant (SSBN) in 2017 and one on HMS Artful (SSN). See the three "scandalous" articles above. It is more likely the majority of female deployments in the UK submarine service are successful - but only bad news hits the scandal sheets.
Spanish Navy
An Anonymous reader advised:
"In Spain, women have been serving in submarines since 1998-1999. But the first female officer just joined the fleet last summer, in June 2020."
She is Submarine Officer Laura Vitalia González Martínez, See this long article from El Español "the Spanish" website here. With photo of Laura (below) courtesy the same website.
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Argentine Navy (ARA San Juan)
The ARA San Juan tragically sank, with all 44 crew, in November 2017. In it was Submarine Officer Eliana Krawczyk. Eliana's home city of Oberá, Argentina, said it would name a street after her.
